he was asked to respond to a criticism from an old rival, john mccain. >> good afternoon, everybody. >> reporter: he was aloof, and at times, confident. and aggressive at times at times. in his first press conference since winning a second term. his main goal, making a case that the public support fully the tax hike on the rich. >> everybody understood that that was an important debate, the majority of voters agreed with me, by the way, more agreed with me on the issue than voted for me. >> reporter: he also made clear that the bush tax cuts for the top 2% will go away, but left new wiggle room on how it would be determined. >> what i am not going to do is extend further a tax cut for folks who don't need it do is stepped further tax cuts for people who don't need it. >> reporter: he encouraged growing common ground between the two parties. >> i'm open to compromise and new ideas. >> reporter: after an opening statement, mr. obama immediately faced questions on how the petraeus scandal affected his white house. >> i have no evidence at this point from what i've seen that classified i